You can take that title as a nod to Gene Autry. It’s the only song that comes to mind.

Our buyer that made such a good offer for us backed out this past Tuesday. It was an investor who decided they wouldn’t flip the house with sufficient return on their investment, so we’re on the market again. [Insert big SIGH here]

I’ve been trying to reflect on this turn of events and wondering if we’re still on the path we believe God set for us. There’s a post circulating on Facebook this week that has really helped me keep perspective.

I’ve thought of

• Job (stressed to the max under severe personal catastrophe),
• Gideon (doubting God’s word and forced to rely on limited resources),
• Abraham (called out of his home to wander into a new, foreign territory to receive God’s promise),
• the Israelite’s in the Exodus (caught between a large body of water and an approaching murderous army)
• Noah (preaching God’s judgment by flood while building a giant ship in the middle of a desert)

The list goes on and on. And yet, our little “catastrophe” is nothing compared to all the great wonders God has done and will do in our lives. Paul said it best when he said

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8-11)

I don’t know why this setback has happened, but perhaps it’s not a setback (see graphic above). We’re continuing forward, even though the path is not fully illuminated for us.